Events - 15 Mar 17

76th Annual Bike Week

Dubbed the “World’s Largest Motorcycle Event,” Bike Week is a 10-day event filled with high-octane street festivals, concerts, motorcycle races, bike shows, rallies, manufacturer showcases and much more. The event was established more than seven decades ago and has grown into a crowd of over 500,000 motorcyclists who make it an annual pilgrimage. Bike Week has been designated a Southeast Tourism Society Top 20 Event. Bike Week activities take place at various locations throughout the Daytona Beach area.

Come out to Daytona Beach Riverfront Park Rocks Motorcycle Rally… A party in the park with numerous vendors (clothing, jewelry, and more) showing their wares, food and beverage trucks, music, and an all- around Good Time…

Enjoy beautiful Downtown Daytona Beach and the Riverfront Shops who welcome bikers for shopping and dining…

Mary McLeod Bethune Home Tours

Enjoy a tour of the legendary educator and Civil Rights Activist Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s historic home. Built in 1904, it was her home from 1914 until her passing in 1955. Stop in to walk in the footsteps of the legendary leader. Tours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturdays by appointment.

Free, but donations are accepted to support the work of the historic home.

Find a new appreciation for the amazing technology intertwined into our lives as we take a look at the astounding technology developed for America’s iconic space program. On loan from NASA and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, is a vast collection of training and space flown hardware starting with Project Mercury through to the Space Shuttle Program and beyond. You will find a rocket engine, space suit gear, spacewalking tools, planting growing station, materials used on Apollo craft and the Space Shuttle, and even a Space Shuttle toilet! These artifacts and more will highlight the technology that has been needed to operate in the harsh environment of space, and how those vital components were adapted for the public into everyday items in what NASA calls “spinoffs”.

Views of St. Augustine – 100 Years

Views of St. Augustine – 100 Years
Ongoing Exhibit- Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art- Museum of Arts and Sciences- Through 2017, open MOAS Hours

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement within the borders of the United States. A brief history of the city begins in the 16th century. It was founded on September 8, 1565, by Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Florida’s first governor. He had first sighted land on August 28, the feast day of St. Augustine. The city served as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years.

Spain ceded Florida to the United States in 1819, and when the treaty was ratified in 1821, St. Augustine was designated the capital of the Florida Territory until Tallahassee was made the capital in 1824. Since the late 19th century, St. Augustine’s distinct historical character has made the city a major tourist attraction.

The two works by George Harvey in this exhibition show us the Plaza of the Constitution and a view to the fort from a location just west of the north gate in the 1850’s. After these scenes were recorded, in 1861 Florida joined the Confederacy after the Civil War and Confederate authorities remained in control of St. Augustine for fourteen months, even though it was barely defended, and in spite of the Union blockade of shipping off the coast. Union troops occupied St. Augustine in 1862 and controlled the city though the rest of the war. A small watercolor depicts a blue-coated Union soldier sometime after the Union occupation. The town’s economy already devastated, many of the citizens fled.

Henry Flagler, a co-founder of the Standard Oil Company, spent the winter of 1883 in the city and found it charming, but considered its hotels and transportation systems inadequate. He had the idea to make St. Augustine a winter resort for wealthy Americans from the north, and to bring them south he bought several short line railroads and combined these in 1885 to form the Florida East Coast Railway. He built a railroad bridge over the St. Johns River in 1888, opening up the Atlantic coast of Florida to development.

Flagler began construction in 1887 of two large hotels, the 540-room Ponce de León Hotel and the Hotel Alcazar, and bought the Casa Monica Hotel the next year. His chosen architectural firm, Carrére and Hastings, radically altered the appearance of St. Augustine and give it a skyline characterized by the use of the Moorish Revival style. With the opening of the Ponce in 1888, St. Augustine became the winter resort of American high society.

After the Florida East Coast Railroad had been extended southward, the rich mostly abandoned St. Augustine in the early 20th. St. Augustine nevertheless still attracted tourists, and eventually became a destination for families traveling in automobiles. Calendar art presents a Chrysler Airflow parked outside the Oldest House verifying the new mode by which to visit the city. The tourist industry soon became the dominate sector of the local economy. With the help of state and federal government monies, St. Augustine began a program in 1935 to preserver thirty-six surviving colonial buildings and reconstruct others that were gone.

In 1965, St. Augustine celebrated the quadricentennial of its founding, and with funds from the State, began to restore part of the colonial city. Paintings after that date reflect the restored condition of their subjects. In 2015, St. Augustine celebrated the 450th year of its founding with an exhibition of historic art works from the Brown Collection including many of the works in this gallery.

Continuing a series of gallery tours of the NASA Innovations exhibit, Curator of Astronomy, Seth Mayo, will tkae you on an in-depth walk-through of iconic space-flown artifacts on loan from NASA and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex displayed in our Ford Gallery. Learn about the amazing technology developed and engineered from the Mercury Project to the Space Shuttle era, and how those vital components were transformed for the public in what NASA calls “spinoffs”.

Wednesday Yoga in the Gallery

Take a break from your busy day and enjoy weekly Yoga in the Gallery at the Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art. Meet in the lobby to join registered yoga instructor, Ashley Brooks of Holistic Movements, for an hour-long session that will provide you with an opportunity to practice a series of gentle yoga poses. Class is open to all experience levels. Please bring a mat, towel, and water. Space is limited and registration is required. RSVP to the Museum at 386-255-0285.